Sins of the Flesh (9 page)

L
iliana didn’t know who to trust with the blood sample.

Certainly not her fiancé, Harrison. If he thought there was anything of value in the findings, he would be the first to broadcast them to the world in order to benefit himself. He cared nothing for family or friends, just himself, she had come to realize in the last few months when his demeanor had taken a turn for the worst.

It only reinforced her belief that she had to find a way out of their relationship. For months now she had been contemplating it, especially as Harrison’s actions in private became more and more violent.

As she entered the hospital lab after grabbing a few hours’ sleep in the doctor’s lounge, she spotted Dr. Carmen Rojas, a pathologist with whom she had become good friends. The two of them had helped each other through their boards and the mazelike routes of hospital politics.

She hoped Carmen could assist her once again.

Carmen lifted her head from the microscope where she had been examining a slide as Liliana approached. She held her arms out wide in invitation as she said, “Dr. Carrera. What brings you to my dungeon?”

Liliana smiled as she came to stand by Carmen’s lab
bench, but her hand tightened on the test tube in the pocket of her white hospital jacket. She looked around the rest of the lab to make sure they were alone before she said, “If I said a science experiment, would you believe me?”

“A science experiment? As in—”

A deep furrow formed between Carmen’s manicured brows as Liliana extracted the glowing test tube from her pocket and held it up for Carmen to see. “Somehow a dollar store glow stick isn’t my idea of a neat science experiment, Liliana.”

“You’ve got to promise this stays between the two of us.”

“Seriously? You want me to keep a glow stick secret?” Carmen questioned even as she held out her hand and wiggled her fingers in a request for the tube.

“It’s human blood.”

Carmen gingerly took hold of the sample and brought it beneath a table lamp she had at her workstation. She placed the vial beneath the lamp and turned it on. In the beam from the lamp, the blood glowed more brightly than it had with the ambient light.

Carmen punched another button, switching the regular incandescent light in the lamp to blue light. Beneath the blue light, the liquid in the tube phosphoresced into a much more brilliant yellow-green.

“Cool. Is this what Harrison has been up to?”

“This has nothing to do with Harrison. In fact, I’d rather he not know about it. Or anyone else for that matter,” Liliana cautioned, needing her friend to understand the importance of secrecy with the sample.

Carmen peered at her askance before extracting a small amount of blood from the tube and placing it on a
slide. As she plopped on a slip cover, Carmen said, “No need to worry,
amiga
. I won’t spill the beans about this to anyone.”

“Gracias, amiga
.
”
Liliana watched for a moment, silent as Carmen shifted the slide around and fiddled with some knobs on the microscope. Within just seconds, however, her friend shook her head and shifted away from the eyepiece.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before. It may take me a day or two to investigate. Find out what could cause this.”

“I understand. Could I trouble you for a DNA analysis and full tox screen also?”

Carmen chuckled. “Not asking for too much, are you?”

Liliana jammed her hands into her pockets, slightly uncomfortable with having to ask, but her own expertise lay in bones and not blood. “If it’s too much—”

“Just kidding, Liliana. Actually, it’ll be an interesting break from the mundane day-to-day, only…”

Her friend paused, then rose from her lab stool and rested her hand on Liliana’s forearm. “If you were in trouble, you’d let me know, right?”

While Mick and his friend might be in their share of hot water, Liliana had no such fears about herself. Except maybe for her issues with Harrison. As her gaze connected with Carmen’s, she realized that was exactly to whom her friend had been referring.

“Harrison and I—”

Carmen’s hand snapped up to stop her. “If you don’t want to tell me—”

“It’s complicated,” she began. “For months now… he’s changed and not in a good way.”

“Rumor has it he laid into one of the young residents yesterday. Reduced her to tears and then physically pushed her out the door during rounds.”

Physically pushed?

At home, what she thought had been a funk had escalated into anger and violence, turning her fiancé into a man Liliana no longer knew. That his behavior was now spilling over into his professional life created even more worry within her. She just shrugged as she wrapped her mind around it, hesitant about providing more fodder for the hospital rumor mill.

“I’ve been thinking for some time now that it’s time to end our relationship,” she finally replied.

“Those of us who know you would understand,” Carmen said, but Liliana knew there would be those in the hospital who could not imagine why she would break it off with Harrison.

For now, however, she had other worries. She gestured to the tube resting on the lab bench and said, “How long do you think—”

“Couple of hours on the tox screen. DNA analysis will take a few days at least.”

“Thanks.” With a nod, Liliana turned and walked toward the door of the lab, Carmen in step beside her.

At the door Liliana paused, glancing at her friend, who said, “If you’re ever in trouble, with anything, you know I’m here for you.”

Liliana had understood that, which was maybe why she had come to Carmen to help her with the various tests. Nevertheless, it was good to hear her friend reinforce that she had made a wise decision.

“I know,” she said and hugged the other woman.

When Carmen released her, Liliana hurried up to the surgical wing. As an orthopedic surgery resident, she had to make rounds with the chief surgeon and other residents later that morning. She generally enjoyed rounds, since they provided an opportunity to become involved in a series of different cases, and she liked meeting the diverse group of patients at the hospital.

Unfortunately, the surgical wing was also within Harrison’s domain and this morning she dreaded it, last night’s fight still fresh in her brain.

The bruises glaringly evident on her body.

She reached the surgical floor and spent an hour preparing for rounds before joining the group of residents already gathering. She braced herself, wondering if any of them would ask about the incident Carmen had mentioned. Liliana walked toward them, aware of how some of their heads were bent together in discussion until they saw her and broke apart.

Clearly they had heard about what had happened.

Straightening her spine, Liliana approached, determined to not let hospital gossip and her association with Harrison weigh her down.

From the stairs, Mick was able to see that Caterina had not yet awakened that morning. Of course it was still early for most. Barely seven.

He had managed to get a few hours of sleep before planting his butt in his office chair to search for additional information on Wardwell and its two founders. Waiting to call his old buddy Franklin.

Franklin Pierce might have been his friend for nearly a
decade, but if Franklin was being paid anything close to what he was for this assignment, that old friendship likely would not count for much. Especially since they hadn’t really seen each other very much in the last couple of years.

Taking one of the prepaid cell phones from his file cabinet, Mick dialed the personal cell phone number he had for Franklin. If his ex–Army Ranger buddy answered there, he might be one up on him, assuming Franklin hadn’t shut off the GPS tracking on the phone.

Leaning back into his leather office chair, Mick waited while the cell phone rang.

With each ring, he wondered if Franklin had changed much over the years. If his old buddy was still as trustworthy as he had been during their days in the military and after.

His old friend answered with a sleepy, “Hullo?”

In the background a baby cried, possibly awakened by his early morning call. That didn’t stop Mick from engaging the GPS tracking service he had hacked from the phone company.

“Don’t tell me you’re a dad now, Franklin,” he said, the tenor of his voice friendly as he waited for the Web site to return a location for Pierce’s signal.

“Man, oh man. Is it really you, Carrera?”

A muffled voice said, “Who is it, honey?” as the wailing sounds of the baby grew louder.

A second later, the GPS identified the location of Pierce’s cell phone—a building in a residential section of South Philly. Probably Franklin’s home, judging from the area and the clear signs of family in the background.

“An old friend,” Franklin answered the woman and
then the ambient sounds in the room faded. He was obviously leaving the woman and child behind in the room as he walked away to make their conversation more private.

“Old? Hell, Franklin. I’m not as ancient as you are,” he said playfully, prompting his friend to chuckle and reply, “But this old man can still kick your ass.”

Mick doubted it, but didn’t say. “I know you’re on the Shaw job, old man. I need you to back off.”

A heavy and tired sigh drifted across the phone line. “Can’t do,
mano
. I need the money.”

“You need it enough to have your goon kill a helpless woman? She was shot by your em-ploy-ee,” he said, injecting each syllable of the last word with sarcasm.

Franklin’s words were hushed as he spoke. “My man says she attacked him. That she wasn’t human.”

Mick forced himself to laugh to attempt to dissuade his friend from such thoughts. “Come on, Franklin. She’s just a frickin’ musician. Tell your man to stop using the crack. If you give Edwards his money back and quit the job, we’ll be square.”

“Can’t do. Seriously. It’s my kid, Mick.”

“Is something wrong?” Mick asked, concern for his old friend rising up.

“My daughter’s sick and I need the cash,” Franklin replied.

Mick sat up in his chair, planting his boots firmly on the ground as he dragged a hand though his short-cropped hair in frustration. “Don’t bullshit me.”

“No bullshit. Some kind of anemia and the insurance doesn’t cover all that much for the treatments. I’m going broke from the medical bills.”

In his days as a Ranger, Mick had understood the
meaning of trust. So had Franklin. They had survived more than one hairy mission together based on that trust.

He decided to rely on that trust. Well, trust and a little fear.

“There won’t be anywhere for you to hide if you’re not being square with me.”

“I’m telling you the truth. I’ll give you the doc’s name if you want.”

Mick didn’t want it, and it occurred to him in that moment what to do. “Give Edwards his cash back. Tell him you didn’t bargain on Shaw being a psycho.”

“Is she? A psycho?”

Mick supposed that was as good an explanation as any. “Definitely a major EDP. Anyone who manages to catch up to her needs to watch out.”

“But I need the money,” Franklin said, the tones of his voice holding a desperation Mick had only heard once before—during their last mission together when everything had gone to hell.

“Just tell me how much you need and I’ll wire it to your account. You still have the account, right?” he asked, thinking that Edwards’s check in his wallet would go a long way toward helping his friend.

“Still have the account, although it’s virtually tapped out,” Franklin readily admitted.

Franklin had always been good about keeping that safety account with a nice amount of cash, much like he did. Enough money to last for a couple of years if he needed to disappear. Things had to be pretty bad for his friend to dip into that emergency stash.

“The money will be in your account in the next few days.”

“I can’t take the money for doing nothing,” Franklin replied, pride evident in his tone.

Mick laughed good-naturedly to ease his friend’s ego. “Who said you were getting it for nothing? I need you to help me out with some things. Are you game?”

“I’m five-by-five with that. I’d rather work for you than Edwards.”

“Good. Do you still have that secure e-mail account?”

When Franklin confirmed that he did, Mick said, “I’ll send you some instructions and a cell phone number where you can reach me. Keep your ear to the ground on this case. If you find out anything, send a message to my secure account or call me. Roger that?”

“Roger, Mick. I’ll be watching your back.”

“I’m counting on it. Don’t disappoint me.”

M
ick hung up and rose from the chair, needing to stretch his legs. He had been at his desk for over two hours since his call to Franklin and he was growing hungry. He hurried to the kitchen to prepare some breakfast and then returned upstairs.

As he reached the door to the bedroom, he paused when he realized Shaw had somehow made a tangle of the sheets which had once covered her body. The shapely length of one leg was now exposed, along with her breasts.

Rather nice, perfectly shaped breasts, he thought, dragging his gaze from them because to continue looking would create too many problems.